"He can't help but be extreme. He was a Navy SEAL for 10 years and has 25+ years of training in several of the more brutal martial arts (muay thai, Jeet Kune Do, aikido, jujitsu, savate, arnis).

That's over 35 years of programming/brainwashing. You'd be pretty extreme too."

That's not an excuse, if anything most people with that kind of experience have the opposite kind of mentality. Actually, I didn't think the host was that bad compared to others, but he's playing up a bit of the "XTREME KOMBAT" angle up because the Discovery Channel producers think their military shows will be more successful if they go over the top and pander to the lowest common denominator, and damn them, they're right. Oh, and aikido is not a brutal martial art in any sense of the phrase.

He can't help but be extreme. He was a Navy SEAL for 10 years and has 25+ years of training in several of the more brutal martial arts (muay thai, Jeet Kune Do, aikido, jujitsu, savate, arnis).

That's over 35 years of programming/brainwashing. You'd be pretty extreme too.

Makes me wonder if he can still enjoy everyday life or if everything is a combat situation in his mind.

As an MMAer myself, I don't quite understand what's so mindblowing about MMA making it onto the cover of SI. It's a terrific sport, albeit somewhat misunderstood, and is quickly becoming one of the leading sport draws. I men, it's fighting for pete's sake, how can that NOT appeal to young adults?

As you may know, mixed martial arts, in the form of pankration, was one of the most popular sports in the original Greek Olympic games, back in the 600s B.C., and is currently under review for admittance as a demonstration sport in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Contrary to popular belief, mixed martial art fighters are not mindless brawlers: in fact, to reach a high level in the sport requires excellence in not just one martial art, but many arts, in order to adequately cover the three ranges of combat (standing, clinch, and ground) as well as both striking and grappling. For example, Fedor, almost universally considered the best fighter in the world, draws his base as an international champion in judo and sambo, and usually trains in submission grappling, boxing, and Muay Thai. He has, among many other feats, thrown and submitted an Olympic gold-medal judoka, hip tossed an Olympic silver-medal Greco-Roman wrestler, submitted some of the world's best Brazilian jiu-jitieros, and knocked out high-level Muay Thai fighters and kickboxers.

MMA has become a proving ground for martial arts, in what I believe is the spirit of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do: take what works, discard what doesn't. Arts that are effective are proven in the ring, and ones that aren't are dropped quickly - people can't make excuses when they get hit in the face. And the arts that work have coalesced into an overarching view of fighting, making for basically the most effective method of training and preparation for unarmed combat.

As for homoerotic overtones....well, I guess one can see what one wants to see.

Sifters interested in learning more about specific aspects of MMA can check out my Fighting Arts playlist, which includes sifts covering an expanding selection of martial arts practiced and used in mixed martial arts competitions.

Hm, I'm not sure if the gi will result in more grappling necessarily, as that depends on the fighters' choices, but it certainly allows for a wider range of grappling techniques and makes it easier to get your grapple on. In addition, it's interesting to note that the gi changes the clinch game rather significantly. Rather than having to swim for underhooks (although they are still nice to have), a cross-collar grip for example allows for a huge amount of additional power on spinning attacks like muay thai-style turning knees and hooks. And the plum clinch can actually become rather difficult to hold for those not used to fighting with a gi, because it allows for easier double-sleeve throws and sacrifice throws for the person being clinched.

Dag, the Pride Fighting Championships is a pro mixed martial arts organization in Japan, and is generally considered to have the best fighters in the world. (Well, past tense now, Pride was just bought by the owners of the UFC and combined the two.)

The general consensus among MMA fighters and fans is that most of the top MMA fighters, even the sprawl-and-brawl specialists, would get wiped in boxing matches against the best pro boxers, because MMA fighters can't afford to perfect their boxing to the same point boxers do. There has been movement, however, to improve striking in MMA, and the latest round of champs has been mostly strikers.

There is also some truth in that boxing striking, although it is often considered the best base standup art for MMA, needs to be adapted for MMA. For example, the more sideways stance has to be squared up to protect against single and double leg takedowns. Also, the use of the smaller 4 oz. MMA gloves means many types of boxing guards, like the peekaboo guard and crab guard, don't work so well because it's easier for punches to slip past.

Since MMA is such a new sport, there is much debate as to how much of the difference in striking styles between MMA and pure boxing/kickboxing/Thai boxing is due to poor technique on the fighters' part, and differences in the games caused by the wider range of attacks available in MMA.

For example, take head movement. Boxers are well known to have great head movement for defense, in bobbing and weaving and slipping. MMA fighters tend to keep their heads relatively still and high up. Some people say this is due to the fact that boxers train more head movement, and point to Couture v. Sylvia as an example of good head movement in MMA giving an advantage to the better slipper (Couture). Other people say boxing-style head movement is dangerous in MMA because a bad bob, weave, or slip could easily bring a fighter into the path of a round kick or knee or open them up for a takedown, and point to Anderson Silva v. pretty much anyone else, as well as the lowered amount of head movement in Muay Thai matches.

There are examples and counter examples of both sides, but I don't think a consensus will be reached until the next generation of MMA fighters arrive, a generation that no longer consists of specialized fighters with a strong base in a single art, but fighters that have been training since Day 1 for MMA with strong bases in striking and grappling arts. It's pretty exciting to watch the sport evolve in small ways like this.

Personally, I don't give all the discussion much thought, and am content to just block punches with my forehead.

Nice to hear a voice of reason around here.

In reply to your comment:
“Tony Jaa would be the first guy to say that what he does in the movies isn't 'real' Muay Thai - I've seen a couple of interviews with him where he's pointed it out. Some of it is a reasonably fair representation, but the acrobatics and the jumping kicks are much more akin to wushu, capoeira, free running, or tricking.

The guy has an undeniable talent, and I really loved Ong Bak. The Protector (aka. Ong Bak 2) had some great fights, particularly the 5-6min one-shot scene that southblvd mentioned. The problem with The Protector was that it was seriously malnourished on plot - even by the (not high) standards of martial arts movies.”

Tony Jaa would be the first guy to say that what he does in the movies isn't 'real' Muay Thai - I've seen a couple of interviews with him where he's pointed it out. Some of it is a reasonably fair representation, but the acrobatics and the jumping kicks are much more akin to wushu, capoeira, free running, or tricking.

The guy has an undeniable talent, and I really loved Ong Bak. The Protector (aka. Ong Bak 2) had some great fights, particularly the 5-6min one-shot scene that southblvd mentioned. The problem with The Protector was that it was seriously malnourished on plot - even by the (not high) standards of martial arts movies.

This man is the single largest reason for morons who flood into my MT gym, assuring trainers and sparring partners that they "know Muay Thai", then get KTFOed. Oh, or the ones who get disappointed 'cause we don't do flips or throw flying elbows every two seconds, and then proceed to declare that we "don't have the real Muay Thai". GRRRRRR....I'm tempted to downvote this.

...but I won't, because he's got some damn entertaining movies.

The man goes from being a ghost to being the new up and coming martial arts superstar in one movie. Phenomanal muay thai skills, and acrobatics. Can't wait to see what he does next! I find it funny that he was Liu Kang's stunt double in the Mortal Kombat movie.

That sent shivers down my spine, especially when Ali sat waiting for the beginning of the second round. The look in his eyes, right as his game face came on....wow.

I've always studied the sweet science as a means to an end, to improve my MMA and muay thai games, but man...that was huge.

DigitalDragon, you misunderstood Empire's argument about contact. Boxers, Muay Thai fighters, kickboxers, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, judo all have their students start whacking, throwing, or submitting each other from Day 1. They continue to train this way at all times. So who do you think's going to be a better fighter, somebody who gets punched and punches people all the time and learns to put power in it, or somebody who whirls their feet and hands around and maybe touches their "opponents" when dancing? Practice makes perfect, right? How come capoeira players don't practice hitting each other, then? You said you've seen masters fight each other in person. Any of them ever get KO'ed, or even get knocked silly? I doubt it, and if it was, it was probably an accident.

*sigh* This is why arguing on teh internets is dumb. It's so much easier when the people I'm arguing with can put on some 4 oz. gloves with me to put their claims to the test and then get themselves punched silly. So much easier that way.

Well said, Empire. Farhad2000, if you'd like to read up more on the argument against capoeira as an effective martial art, you should check out Bullshido.com, a website dedicated to revealing the BS in many "martial arts" today.

And please, the more you train in a good martial art, the better a fighter you become. All that talk about taking a long time for a huge payoff is just BS to explain why most of the practitioners can't hold their own. And besides, most of the best pro fighters today started training in at least one martial art at a very young age too. So, the question still is, how come no capoeira fighters can be found in the ring?

And, well, anecdotes aren't evidence, but I sparred a capoeira player a few days ago and choked him out to tap.

And since when have kali and JKD been rare? (I assume you mean Jun Fan JKD, since there are so many interpretations of the name.) Kali isn't found the ring because it's very well developed for weapon fighting, but isn't as good as say boxing or Muay Thai for striking. But outside of unarmed hand-to-hand MMA, kali is extremely popular, and is growing in popularity if anything, thanks to guys like the Dog Brothers who are making it even more effective as a system.

And bits and pieces of Bruce Lee's personal style of JKD can be found in MMA, it's just that fighters' knowledge has expanded so far beyond what Bruce Lee knew, as in grappling, takedowns, and non-linear attacks, that effective fighting as a whole has evolved beyond his concepts.

Anyways, EMPIRE, where do you train? And are you on Bullshido? It seems like I've met you somewhere...